by Scott Thong Yu Yuen, Ipoh. Thursday April 3, 2008

HAVING read Dr Chandra Muzaffar’s letter “Film is fitnah indeed"(The Star, April 1), I agree with his conclusion that Geert Wilders’ film intentionally misrepresents Islam as a religion that discriminates against non-Muslims, although I do not see why Dr Chandra considers Wilders’ views as racist when Islam is a religion, not an ethnicity.

Joining him in protest are Muslim groups and leaders worldwide, including former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Barisan Nasional Youth, the National Fatwa Council and the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia. They are all saddened by the film’s wrong portrayal of Islam as inherently violent and intolerant. But I am also saddened to note that even as the Muslim leaders are outraged at Westerners deemed to be mocking Islam, not a peep is uttered about the extremists who call for hatred and death against non-Muslims – as captured on video in the Dutch film. The only reason Wilders’ film is considered to be smearing Islam is because it repeatedly juxtaposes verses from the Quran with videos of terrorist attacks and extremist imams preaching hatred of non-Muslims.

If so, then why aren’t moderate Muslim leaders and groups condemning the extremists who interpret those verses as justification for their hate-mongering? Without their antics, Wilders’ film would have little material to cause provocation with. These extremists are the ones who cause some Westerners to view Islam as a violent religion. These extremists are the ones hijacking and re-branding Islam as a religion of war and intolerance in the public eye.In my opinion, such extremists are far more to blame for giving Islam a negative image than lone individuals such as Wilders. Who is more likely to give a religion a bad name – some mocking “outsider” who has an ulterior political motive or violent “insiders” who actually claim to follow that religion?

Yet, none of the moderate Muslim leaders denounce or reject the violent, hateful extremists even as they protest against a film prominently featuring them. Instead, more calls for boycotts and more protests are made against Wilders – a man whose image of Islam is undoubtedly coloured by those very extremists. What image does this portray when every time, Muslim leaders attack the messenger (Wilders or newspaper cartoons), but not the message that they are noisily proclaiming – about extremists who are successfully using Islam as a rallying cry for violence and hatred?

In fact, I am certain that Wilders is counting on such a knee-jerk reaction from Muslims, with maybe some riots and spontaneous murders of innocent bystanders thrown in (such as what happened with the Jyllands-Posten controversy), in order to prove his point to the world.If his aim is to influence public opinion into seeing all Muslims as hate-filled extremists, then I’m afraid that the prominent Muslim moderates are unwittingly aiding his agenda with their very selective denouncements. The Star